How To Get Lost: The Right Way
You ever had someone tell you to “get lost?” Ever done it on purpose? I have, because it’s the thing that gives you the most interesting stories to tell. The last time I was in Lima, Peru, is a great example of why getting lost can be a positive thing.
How Getting Lost Can Be Good
The last time I visited Lima, I decided to make a walking tour along the waterfront. While the tour itself was quite a lot of fun, I found myself in a completely new neighborhood at the end of it. Getting back would have been a breeze if I had an international sim card for my phone. Sadly, the phone I had back then couldn’t take an e-sim.
As a result, I decided to hop onto a nearby free wi-fi spot (not something you should ever do if you’re doing something that requires passwords) and use Google Maps to plan an offline journey. I quickly searched up the neighborhood I wanted to go, got a route map and off I went.
Not Exactly Right
The first signs I was heading the wrong way was after about an hour walking, I still hadn’t hit any landmarks I knew. However, I put that down to the fact that I don’t usually go this way when I’m in Lima, so my destination neighborhood had to be right there.
I walked through spectacular gardens and parks, exploring La Molina (one of the more upscale areas of Lima) as one would do as a tourist. They certainly have a lot of green spaces there and the architecture is unique compared to many other places.
When I hit the street that should have been the “right” neighborhood however, I realized I was in the wrong place. Nothing on this street was where it should be and the building I was looking for on the corner was definitely not where it should be.
Making The Best Of A Bad Situation
There I was, lost in Lima, with only the barest idea of where I wanted to go. And the neighborhood I chose was wrong. What’s more, I had no wi-fi to reroute myself. I quickly looked for a coffee shop that I could avail myself of (I’d been walking for an hour and fifteen minutes at that point).
I found a quaint little coffee shop that offered me wi-fi with a purchase so I had some alfajores and took my time rerouting myself. Since I couldn’t use the street name anymore, I opted for a well-known landmark that I could use as a reference point.
The route gave me another one and a half hour walk in the opposite direction. My initial route seemed to have bypassed the neighborhood I wanted to end up in, so instead I headed for Ovalo Gutierrez, which was the place I knew how to navigate from without a map application or my phone.
What Getting Lost Can Teach You
Planning a trip is wonderful and it gives you an idea of what you’re in for. However, there are a few things that getting lost can teach you. Going for a detour in a city you don’t know might lead you to find things and places you otherwise wouldn’t see. I never had a reason to check out La Molina before that but I was really surprised at how enjoyable the walk through that neighborhood was.
My itinerary for the day ended at the bridge, but since I had a whole evening free, I could afford to wander around and get lost a bit. Don’t overplan your trip. Leave some time free for detours and getting lost. When you don’t have tight margins for your visits, you don’t have to “make up time” by rushing around. The goal of traveling is to enjoy your travel, not just visit the same old places everyone takes pics of on Instagram.
The last thing I’d suggest when getting lost is to make sure you know what parts of the city are friendly for tourists who want to get lost. You’re responsible for your own safety when you travel. If you intend to get lost somewhere (or you accidentally end up getting lost somewhere), keep alert and see if you can find someone to ask about the place. Not only will you find out if the neighborhood you’re in is friendly to travelers, but you might learn a thing or two about the place.
Efficiency Isn’t Everything It’s Cracked Up To Be
Planning for a trip, especially for a few days, means putting things in perspective. But if you’re visiting somewhere and only have like a week there, set aside some time to really explore. Go and see the place you’re in and enjoy it like a local would.
There’s no country, or city, or region that doesn’t have things that you can explore when you take it slow. There’s benefits to being in a rush (getting more stuff done, for example), but if you’re in a rush in your regular life, maybe you should take it a bit easier when you travel? That’s just a suggestion from a guy who has now discovered that taking it slow and smelling the flowers allows for much, much more interesting stories.
So here’s the way I see it: if you’re going to remember a trip years from now, it won’t be the perfect itinerary. It’ll be the wrong turn, the unexpected stop, the story you didn’t plan for.
What about you? What’s the wrong turn that ended up defining one of your trips?
As usual, if you like these kinds of slow-travel stories and want to live vicariusly through me, feel free to subscribe!
